Milk and Nachos
by silkyterrier34
Summary: When Peter has a nightmare in Tony's lab, Tony learns about Uncle Ben. After comforting Peter, he decides to take matters into his own hands.


**I haven't had much access to a computer lately, so instead of working on my stories with multiple chapters, I wrote this idea of mine down on paper. Now it's here to share with all of you!**

 **I really like how Tony (whether he realizes it or not) has taken on the role as Peter's father figure. Their bond has really grown since they officially met in Civil War. One day I wondered how Tony would react if he ever learns about Uncle Ben, and thus this fic was born. I tried to do a mix of Uncle Ben's death in the Spider-Man trilogy and the Amazing Spider-Man, but I think I've leaned more towards the trilogy's version since that's the one I grew up with.**

 **You should also know that I have this headcanon that Peter and Ned used to be neighbors until Uncle Ben died. Also, while I've heard that Aunt May is supposed to be Peter's mother's sister, I made it so that Uncle Ben was Peter's father's brother. Not only is it that way in the comics, but if they were sisters, than Peter and May shouldn't have the same last name. Although I'm interested in seeing if Marvel's ever going to try and explain this.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Tony Stark sat in the lobby of the prison tapping his foot and occasionally glancing at his watch. The only other people with him was a person at the desk and a prison guard standing next to him.

Said guard asked, "Why does a guy like you have any interest in a guy like Dennis Carradine? Wouldn't you rather talk with Adrian Toomes? Or maybe some perp you've locked up in here?"

Tony looked at the guard, deadly serious. "His crimes are more... personal to me."

This only further confused the guard. "More personal than trying to steal from you?"

"Much more," he replied with a tone filled with malice.

That seemed to shut the guard up as Tony returned to his thoughts. He had ensured that he would be able to be with Carradine alone, and he had his watch with the ability to turn off the security camera that would be in the room with them.

Because after what he did to Peter, Carradine deserved everything Tony would do to him.

* * *

 _The Previous Evening..._

Tony waltzed into his lab holding a plate of nachos. "Hey, Kid, you like nachos, right? I mean-"

Before he could finish with "what teenager doesn't like nachos?" he realized that Peter had fallen asleep at his work bench. His arms were crossed on the table, making a somewhat soft surface for his head. The little gadget he was tinkering with was sitting forgotten in front of him.

Tony wasn't surprised. The kid had been swamped with schoolwork all week. Since May only allowed him to patrol in the afternoon, that left him to get everything done at night. With the weekend finally here, Peter decided that he would spend the evening with Tony in his lab. Sleep must have claimed him while Tony was away.

Well, he wasn't going to be the one to wake him. He set the food on the work bench before heading over to his computer. After double checking that the audio was off, he did everything from checking emails to designing his new suit. Every now and then he would check his phone for texts from Aunt May or Pepper with wedding plans.

Friday's voice filled the room. "Boss."

Tony shushed her before whispering, "The kid's asleep."

"Peter's heart rate and amount of perspiration has dramatically increased."

That got his attention. He looked to Peter to see that not only was he sweating profusely, but he looked as if he was distressed in his sleep.

He rushed to to Peter's side and began to shake him. "Kid! Kid you're dreaming! Wake-"

"No!" Peter pushed Tony who was sent flying back by Peter's enhanced strength. Luckily, he only hit the floor instead of a workbench or piece of technology. Nevertheless, Peter looked guilty as he shot to his feet.

"Mr. Stark! I'm so so- I didn't mean to-"

Tony waved his hand in dismissal as he stood with a groan he failed to silence. Peter looked shaken up from whatever he was dreaming about and didn't appear to be getting any calmer. Tony himself knew just how much nightmares could affect someone even after they returned to the land of the living. Damn him if he wasn't going to help Peter recover.

He grabbed the nachos before wrapping his arm around Peter's shoulders. "You know what I find to be helpful after a nightmare?"

Peter let Tony lead him out of the lab. "Mrs. Potts says you'd work nonstop."

"Yeah, but Pepper would approve of this."

The two walked in silence to Tony's personal kitchen. The plate of nachos found a new home on the table in the adjacent room, which Tony gestured Peter to sit at. As Peter obeyed, Tony went over to the fridge.

"What type of milk do you prefer?"

Peter grabbed a nacho as he answered, "Any milk is fine."

Tony nodded before preparing the glass of milk. When he was done pouring, he went to the table and handed it to Peter before sitting by him.

"Thanks, Mr. Stark," he said before taking a sip.

"Even when I swore off dairy, drinking milk after nightmares became a habit." He decided not to mention how his beverage of choice after waking used to be alcohol. "So... Kid. How are you?"

Peter grabbed another nacho, refusing to make eye contact. "I'm fine."

"Good. Now how are you really?"

He only stared at his milk as he chewed.

"Peter."

The use of his first name finally got him to look up. He looked very unsure, almost frightened. Tony half expected him to bolt.

"I have these nightmares all the time."

"So do I, but I know the causes for mine. Yours, however, are a complete mystery to me. Now, I wanna help, but I need to know why it is that you have these nightmares in order to do that."

Peter looked down at his hands. "I haven't even told Aunt May the entire story."

"I think I've proven that I don't give her information you don't want me to."

"I'm not worried that you're going to tell her. It's just that..." he trailed off as he sighed.

Tony waited patiently for Peter to continue. Unlike May, who believed teenagers needed some space, he pushed for information, but he liked to think that he knew when to stop applying pressure on the kid.

Peter looked up at him. "My nightmares have to do with Uncle Ben."

Tony raised his eyebrows. "I didn't know you had an uncle."

"I haven't for nearly a year."

Silence followed as Tony let the information set in. He didn't know much about Peter's family. When he learned that Peter was being raised by his aunt instead of his parents, he hadn't asked questions. He was too occupied with recruiting him to go to Germany.

"You must've really cared about him."

"Yeah, he was... he was great. More than great."

Tony nodded. "Tell me about him."

Peter took a large gulp of milk before answering. "My grandparents died not long after I was born, so it was just me, my parents, and Uncle Ben. Whenever my parents had to leave for work for long periods of time, it was Uncle Ben who would drop everything to watch me. And after he started dating Aunt May, she would join us too. When my parents left for the last time, Ben and May came over to babysit me in the middle of their honeymoon. It was right before they were supposed to go to the Bahamas." He looked down in guilt. "I don't think they ever went."

Tony had always assumed that May and Peter were related by blood, and that their surnames were both Parker because she was his father's sister. Evidently, that wasn't the case. And while he was sure Peter loved Aunt May more than any other person in the world, it made Tony a bit upset to realize that Peter now had no living blood relatives.

He continued, "When my parents died, I was too little to fully understand what had happened to them. I was sad, confused, but I never doubted what would happen to me. Uncle Ben had always been there, and I knew that he wouldn't leave me alone now. He and May took me in immediately. Instead of taking me to their apartment, they moved into my childhood home so that I wouldn't have to move away from Ned or feel like I was leaving my parents behind. They cancelled their honeymoon, comforted me even though they were also hurt by my parents' deaths, and they did their best to act as my parents without replacing them. I remember once I had told Uncle Ben that I was worried that I would forget my parents because I was so young when they died. He had said that all my parents would want me to remember was how much they loved me, but he also made sure that he told me about them often. Especially about my dad."

Tony watched as a tear fell down Peter's cheek. Peter noticed and quickly wiped it away.

"And I took him for granted. I never thought that I would lose him."

"How did he die?" asked Tony, "Car accident? Illness?"

More tears escaped from Peter's eyes as he bowed his head. "It was all my fault."

"I seriously doubt that. I blamed myself for my parents death but-"

Peter swung his head back up to look at him. "You don't understand! I didn't stop him!" He put his elbows on the table, using his hands to support his forehead. "I can't even tell Aunt May. I know that she would never stop loving me, but she'll never be able to look at me the same way again."

He put a hand on Peter's shoulder. "Kid, I am the champion of bottling up negative emotions. I would like to keep my title, so why don't you just tell me or anyone what you're holding back." When Peter didn't say anything, he added, "I won't stop you from working in my lab or take away the suit again. And if you don't want me to, I won't say anything to May."

"I-I don't want you to be disappointed in me."

"I would bet everything I have that that won't happen, Kid."

Tony could practically see the mental walls Peter had up to guard this tragedy start to go down. "It was a few weeks after I got my powers. Uncle Ben was going to pick me up at the local library, but I decided to go and try and buy some scrap metal to build web shooters. I tried to buy them, but I was a penny short. The cashier wouldn't let me leave with the metal. I tried to reason with him, but he just wouldn't let me buy them. Before I could leave, a man came in with a gun and told the cashier to give him all of the money. I thought about stopping him, but the cashier had made me so mad. The guy took the money and left."

He got more frantic as he spoke. "I was leaving the store when I heard shouting an-and then a gunshot. I rushed out of the place to see our car driving off and Uncle Ben just... standing there shocked. I ran over to him, but... I just saw this red spot on his chest getting bigger and bigger. He fell down, but I managed to catch him and set him down. I took off my hoodie and applied pressure to the wound, begging him to stay with me. He grabbed one of my hands and told me that I was going to be okay and then-and then..."

Tony found himself horrified that Peter had went through this. It was agonizing for Tony to watch his parents die on camera. Peter watched it happen in real life and had hope that his uncle, his father figure, would make it. There was also no way that he didn't get his uncle's blood on him. That would add to the trauma.

"The guy's name was Dennis Carradine. I found him as Spider-Man a few days later. I couldn't stop myself from punching him once in the face and accidentally breaking his arm."

Tony remembered attempting to kill Bucky as soon as he learned it was him that killed his parents. Having more time to reflect on the situation, he realized that Bucky didn't have free will at the time. Still, if Barnes waltzed in here now, Tony wasn't sure if he would be able to restrain himself from knocking the living daylights out of him. "I would have killed him."

"I thought about it, it actually scared me how much I wanted him dead, but I knew that wasn't what Uncle Ben would want. So I turned him in instead. He's still awaiting his trial." Peter sighed. "But now you see why it's all my fault."

"No I don't, Kid."

Peter squinted at him in confusion. "I had my powers at the time. I could have stopped him before he even robbed the store! The only reason why I didn't was because I didn't get the metal I wanted!"

"Last time I checked, you're not bulletproof. If that guy decided to shoot you, the two of us wouldn't be here talking. And I don't have to know your uncle to tell you that he would much prefer that he die instead of you. And imagine what your aunt would do. Especially if you both died."

Luckily, the message seemed to get across to Peter. He sat there, seemingly thinking about what Tony had just said.

"What was his name? Dennis Carradine?"

Peter nodded.

"I'm proud of you for turning him in. I can't say that I would have. And even though you didn't do anything wrong, I won't tell your aunt."

He looked like he was struggling not to hug Tony as he smiled. "Thank you, Mr. Stark."

"Don't mention it, Kid. Let's finish this food and then head back to the lab."

* * *

 _Present Day..._

An old man wearing thick glasses entered through the door to the meeting rooms. "Have a good day, Joe!"

The guard waved. "Thanks, Stan! You too!" He looked down at Tony. "He should be ready to see you. Ready?"

Tony stood, walking toward the door with determination on his face and purpose in his step. When he and Joe reached a locked door, the guard swiped his badge and opened the door for Tony.

The man sitting at the table inside was a blonde, middle-aged man with muscular biceps but a large waistline. He looked like anyone walking down the street. No one would find him intimidating in or out of prison. It was hard to believe he killed a man.

Tony reminded himself that he didn't just kill a man. He killed Ben Parker, the man who raised Peter since he was a little kid. He murdered a person Peter loved in cold blood. This prisoner was the cause of Peter's nightmares.

He entered the room, shutting the door behind him, before sitting across from Dennis. He tried to seem nonchalant, like he didn't want to beat him into next week. Carradine himself wasn't showing any emotion either.

Dennis spoke first. "When they told me Tony Stark wanted to see me, I didn't believe them. Yet here you are." At Tony's nod, he continued, "I have to be honest. I have no idea why you're here."

"I'm here to chat with you about why you're here."

"Robbed a store with no security, then carjacked a guy."

Tony shook his head. "You're missing the most important part, Mr. Carradine. "He said his name like it left a bad taste in his mouth. "You murdered the person you carjacked."

"Perhaps I did. Perhaps I didn't. No jury's convicted me."

"Not yet, but there's video evidence and witnesses. There really is no denying that you killed him."

Carradine smirked for a split second. To think that he was proud of what he had done to Uncle Ben, to _Peter_ was enough to erase any doubts about what Tony was going to do. He pressed a button on his watch and looked over his shoulder to see that the camera in the corner had shut down. Tony stood and walked around the table. To his delight, he noticed that Carradine was handcuffed.

"You wanna know why I'm here, Douchebag? I'm here because Spider-Man let you off easy."

Seeming to understand Tony's intentions, Carradine's calm demeanor disappears as he jumps up to attack Tony. Tony blocked his hands before punching him in the face hard enough to send him to the ground. He grabbed Carradine by the shoulders and held him against the wall so that he could punch him in the face again. Deciding to change tactics, Tony then aimed for his abdomen, knocking the wind out of him several times.

Tony knew that he wouldn't have much time left, so he threw him face first onto the ground. Unable to catch himself, Carradine landed on his face. He screamed something about his nose as Tony pressed one foot down between his shoulder blades.

"Now you listen to me. If you somehow manage to get out of this dump, you will not be staying in New York. That is, if you know what's good for you. Because if I so much as hear a little rumor that you're not rotting away in here, you bet your ass I'll make sure you're put away where you can't hurt anyone else!"

"It was just one guy!"

"One too many." The door opened as a few guards stepped in. "Sorry about this. He attacked me."

None of the guards questioned him as he made his way out, using his watch to turn the camera back on. He wasn't sure if he would regret this or not, but he let himself relish in the feeling of fighting the man who hurt the Parkers.

Because no one from this day on was going to hurt Peter and get away with it.

* * *

 **So what did you think? I would really appreciate it if you told me your thoughts!**

 **Also, if you're reading my other Marvel fic, now that I have more time to be on a computer, the next chapter should be up soon. I'll post the date when it will be added on my profile when I know for sure!**


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